Hawzah News Agency (Qandil, Iraq Kurdistan) - The Turkish General Staff, in a statement released on Sunday, announced that Turkish fighter jets bombarded Qandil region, neutralizing 35 Kurdish militants in the process.

The Turkish military generally uses the term "neutralize" to signify that the militants were killed, captured or surrendered.

Speaking at a live interview with Turkish-language Kanal 7 television network on Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish warplanes had hit a “critical” gathering of the PKK terror group in northern Iraq’s Qandil region.

On June 8, at least nine PKK militants were killed when the Turkish military carried out an airstrike in the country’s southeastern province of Sirnak.

The provincial governor's office said in a statement that the aerial assault took place in Bestler-Dereler region near the provincial capital city of Sirnak, situated some 1,000 kilometers east of the capital Ankara.

At least three Turkish soldiers were killed and another sustained injuries on June 4, when PKK militants launched a rocket attack in Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari.

Security sources, requesting anonymity, said Kurdish PKK terrorists mounted the assault from a mountainous area on the Iraqi side of the border.

The Turkish military then started an operation in the area to “neutralize” the militants.